The puzzle consists of a box drawn onto paper. It contains four columns with the middle two having three sections and the first and last sections having just one in the middle. The point of this puzzle is to fill the boxes with number one to eight. The only rule is, the numbers cannot touch the one that comes before or after it. For example, the number five cannot be placed above, below, or diagonally to numbers four and six.

My dad taught this to me, and he was taught by one of his uncles who would make a competition of it saying the fastest to solve the puzzle would get some sort of prize.

When he taught me the puzzle, he promised to give me ten dollars, but only if I did it before the end of the day. I could not do it, but I did eventually and could not help but be proud of myself. I sometimes go a long time without remembering this puzzle causing me to forget how to solve it and I do it again for fun. Since the last time I played it, I’ve figured out a pattern behind it. It simply serves as another part of the things my dad would hear and gather from his relatives back in Mexico. I can tell it means something to him when people engage in it, probably also to make fun of them for not being able to get it.